The 2009 Black Weblog Awards

And The Award Goes To…

BWA Admin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:48:59 +0000

What an overwhelming response this year! With over 8,000 votes logged, the winners of the 2009 Black Weblog Awards have been selected by you, the blogging public, and our team of distinguished judges.

Without further ado, the winners are listed after the break.

Best Blog Design

Popular Vote: My Brown Baby
Judges’ Vote: Black Digerati

Best Blog Post Series

Best Business Blog

Popular Vote: BDPA Foundation
Judges’ Vote: BDPA Foundation

Best Culture Blog

Popular Vote: Afrobella
Judges’ Vote: FreshXpress .:. The PULSE of Young Black America

Best Faith-Based Blog

Popular Vote: Infinite Gen
Judges’ Vote: Reflections of a Jazz Theologian

Best Food Blog

Popular Vote: FlavorDiva.com
Judges’ Vote: FlavorDiva.com

Best Gossip Blog

Popular Vote: The Fury
Judges’ Vote: The Fury

Best Group Blog

Popular Vote: MESH.
Judges’ Vote: Very Smart Brothas

Best Health and Wellness Blog

Popular Vote: Mother Knows Best
Judges’ Vote: Mother Knows Best

Best Hip-Hop Blog

Popular Vote: GangStarr Girl
Judges’ Vote: The Rap Up

Best Humor Blog

Popular Vote: Awesomely Luvvie
Judges’ Vote: TWiB! | This Week in Blackness

Best International Blog

Popular Vote: Ebony Intuition
Judges’ Vote: black and (A)broad

Best LGBT Blog

Popular Vote: Xem VanAdams
Judges’ Vote: Xem VanAdams

Best Microblog

Popular Vote: @brotherjesse
Judges’ Vote: @elonjames

Best Music Blog

Popular Vote: GangStarr Girl
Judges’ Vote: Industry Plug

Best New Blog

Popular Vote: Three Ways to Take It
Judges’ Vote: FreshXpress .:. The PULSE of Young Black America

Best Parenting and Family Blog

Popular Vote: My Brown Baby
Judges’ Vote: spelhouseLove

Best Personal Blog

Popular Vote: Brother Jesse Blog
Judges’ Vote: Blog It Out, Bitch

Best Photo Blog

Popular Vote: Swagger: Paris, New York
Judges’ Vote: Street Etiquette

Best Podcast

Popular Vote: Man and Wife
Judges’ Vote: Man and Wife

Best Political/News Blog

Popular Vote: Postbourgie
Judges’ Vote: The Field Negro

Best Science/Technology Blog

Popular Vote: Urban Science Adventures! (c)
Judges’ Vote: The Koalition

Best Sex and Relationships Blog

Popular Vote: Single Black Male
Judges’ Vote: Single Black Male

Best Sports/Recreation Blog

Popular Vote: Ed The Sports Fan
Judges’ Vote: Ed The Sports Fan

Best Style and Fashion Blog

Popular Vote: Mane & Chic
Judges’ Vote: The Fashion Bomb

Best Teen Blog

Popular Vote: Houseofaura.com
Judges’ Vote: I (heart) That

Best Video Blog

Popular Vote: Xem VanAdams
Judges’ Vote: TWiB! | This Week in Blackness

Best Writing in a Blog

Popular Vote: Very Smart Brothas
Judges’ Vote: The Black Snob

Blog of the Year

Popular Vote: Brother Jesse Blog
Judges’ Vote: TWiB! | This Week in Blackness

Blog to Watch

Popular Vote: Mane & Chic
Judges’ Vote: FreshXpress .:. The PULSE of Young Black America

And the winner of the Aaron Hawkins Award is…

Bill Cammack!

Bill Cammack is an Emmy Award-Winning freelance video editor who has focused his attention on the New/Social Media space.

Since 1995, Bill’s broadcast client list has included Cline, Davis & Mann; Bloomberg Information Television; ABC / Discovery Channel; AETN International / History Channel; The Charlie Rose Show; Court TV; Kralyevich Productions; Metro TV; BSMG Worldwide; Sterling Digital & Treasure HD Channel.

Bill has recently partnered with Athina Krikeli’s Ellopia Media Group in their office space in New York City’s historic Kaufman Astoria Studios. He also edits TV-One’s “Living It Up with Patti LaBelle” for Powerhouse Productions at the RIOT Productions post facility.

Winners, please contact us via our contact form in order to receive your winners’ graphic(s).

2010 is just around the corner. Sign up for our e-mail newsletter to receive the latest information about the Black Weblog Awards!

Vote for Our Panel “Black Blogging Rockstars” for SXSW 2010!

BWA Admin — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 04:47:35 +0000

Please help us get to SXSW 2010 by voting for the panel “Black Blogging Rockstars”!

Just visit this link: http://bit.ly/2Tv45h. It takes just a few minutes to register and vote.

While you’re at it, check out these other great panels by Black bloggers which need *your* vote to make it to SXSW!

Black Female Bloggers & the Future of Media: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/3198

How Social Media Can Destroy Your Business Model: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/3635

Can Online Social Media Erase The Digital Divide?: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/4325

Jingaling Baby! Making Money from Music for Media: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/4513

“Preserve the Sexy” of Your Brand through Social Media: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/4517

The Revolution Will be a #Hashtag: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/2274

Online Gatekeeping: Who Died and Made You King?: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/4753

Can I Reserve This Book With My iPhone?: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/3175

Thanks for your support and keep those votes coming for the Awards!

Best Microblog Finalists Added

BWA Admin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 22:17:30 +0000

We’ve sorted out the database issues and the “Best Microblog” finalists are now showing properly on the ballot. We also added them to the finalist list.

The 2009 Black Weblog Awards Finalist List

BWA Admin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 03:50:24 +0000

Mucho apologies for the lateness of the finalist list (we still have a few kinks to work out). Here are the top five finalists in the 2009 Black Weblog Awards categories (with the exception of “Best Business Blog” which has the top two finalists).

NOTE: We’ve worked out the database errors; the “Best Microblog” category is now showing.

NOTE: We’re still getting the “Best Microblog” category straightened out as well due to some technical glitches, so please, bear with us. Here we go!

Finalists can use this graphic badge on their blogs to publicize their finalist status:

Voting ends September 1; winners are announced on September 4.

New Rules and Categories for 2009 BWAs

BWA Admin — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:30:28 +0000

We like to change things up a bit every year, and this year is no exception. We have a few new rules and new categories, so listen up!

Rules

Like we stated before, we lifted that “you can’t nominate your own blog” rule. Now, blog owners can easily nominate their own blog through our simple process. When you’ve completed it, you will receive a unique link for your blog that will allow other to vote for you for the finalist round!

Next up, we’ve changed the duration of the Awards just a bit. Nominations this year start on June 20 and end on July 25, which will give you plenty of time to get your nomination in AND have people vote for them. Finalist voting has also been lengthened, and now runs the entire month of August. Winners are announced on September 4.

There’s also a new rule out there for those repeat winners. Blogs that have won a particular category at least three times are no longer eligible to win for that particular category. This includes blogs that have won either the Judges’ and/or Popular vote for their category. We’ll go into more detail about this, since several categories have changed names over the years.

The Blog’s New Clothes

BWA Admin — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:29:34 +0000

Welcome to the new Black Weblog Awards website! Head on over to either the categories or rules pages for more information.

You can also catch us online at Twitter and Facebook (we have a fan page and a group) for more information or to talk about the Awards.

Here are a few of the changes with this new site:

- Better integrated blog: The blog has always been available, but it’s been tucked off in the navigation. And if we’re the Black Weblog Awards, why not go ahead and put our blog front and center? The Black Weblog Awards blog is now better integrated on the front page of the site so you can easily check out what’s going on with the Awards as well as other news. We plan to have guest authors from time to time from some of the leading voices in the Black blogosphere.

- New nominating/voting system: We finally decided to lift that “you can’t nominate yourself” restriction from the rules. Blog owners can now nominate themselves in any of our categories through our new process. They are given a unique nomination link they can use to get their readers to vote for them in their nominated categories up until July 24. Then, we’ll take the top five nominated blogs in each category and those will be the finalists. Beginning August 1, you’ll be able to vote for finalists in those categories, and finalist voting will wrap up on August 31. (Yep, you get the whole month to vote for the finalists.) Winners will be announced on September 4.

As we keep building and growing out the Black Weblog Awards, we’ll keep you informed of what’s going on via the blog, so stay tuned!

We Have A Winner!

BWA Admin — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 16:06:28 +0000

Thanks to everyone who took time out to complete our survey! As we work to improve and grow the Awards, it’s important for us to know more about you so we can offer you better services! This week, for those of you who opted in on the survey, we’ll send the first issue of the Black Weblog Awards Newsletter, which will have information about the Awards, some history behind it, and, well, why don’t you tell us what you’d like to see? Just leave a comment here.

As promised, we have selected a winner at random from all the survey participants to win an ASUS Eee PC 1000HE 10″ Netbook, courtesy of 3eighteen media. Using the random number generator at Random.org, the winner is Dominique Mosley!

Congratulations Dominique! We will contact you soon for more details. Thanks again to everyone who filled out our survey!

Let The 2009 Season Begin!

BWA Admin — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 04:21:39 +0000

New year…new president…can’t you smell the hope in the air? Can’t you feel the change? Can’t you taste the future?

No? Well hopefully those aren’t flu-like symptoms.

2009 is ramping up to be the best year ever for the Black Weblog Awards. (Yes, we say that every year…and we mean it too!) We’re working on a new temp site just in time for this year’s SXSW, and we anticipate the new full site launch near the end of Q2 just in time for the Awards. There are quite a few surprises this year that should help make this year’s Awards one for the record books.

Feel free to follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook fan page. Stay tuned!

Would You Like To Take A Survey?

BWA Admin — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 19:06:00 +0000

Now that we’re ramping up the behind the scenes workings here at Black Weblog Awards HQ, we wanted to do a little survey to learn more about our faithful users. For taking the time out of your day to help, everyone who supplies their e-mail address when they fill out the survey is eligible to win a free ASUS Eee PC 1000HE 10″ Netbook, courtesy of 3eighteen media.

These little netbooks are all the rage nowadays, and this particular model is ready to go out of the box with a 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N280 processor, 1 GB RAM, a 160 GB hard drive, 10 GB of Eee Storage, Bluetooth, and a 9.5 hour battery life.

Click here to take the survey. We’ll close the survey and draw for a winner on April 4, 2009, so don’t delay! No purchase necessary, of course. The survey only takes a few minutes to complete. Through the survey, you can also opt-in to receive our new Black Weblog Awards newsletter, which we’ll start delivering in early April.

Remember Aaron Hawkins Today

BWA Admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:35:00 +0000

You may remember that for 2008, we changed the name of the “Black Blogger Achievement Award” to the “Aaron Hawkins Award”. Many asked why and wondered who Aaron Hawkins was. For those of you who weren’t around in his heyday, here’s a FAQ from one of Aaron’s entries from December 20, 2003. This one is my favorite:

Is that what it’s all about for you? Amusing yourself? “If you have to ask that question, you’re too stupid for me to waste time talking with. You may go. I give you leave to go.”

Sadly, Aaron left us on September 3, 2004, leaving behind relatives, loved ones, and a whole lot of sad bloggers. Many of us who have been blogging since 2003 or before know of him well. Today, Aaron would have been 39.

Take a moment out of your day to think about Aaron, and explore his archives to read about the life, times, and thoughts of a prolific man. Not to mention some damn fine blogging.